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Huffpo article on free SHS
The Huffington Post took a look at the Akufo-Addo administration’s free Senior High School (SHS) policy. The author started by acknowledging that the education system certainly has room to improve, citing the low enrollment rates at the SHS and tertiary levels. The author mentions the legitimate concerns regarding funding for the project. She also complains, quite reasonably, about overcrowding that will occur if every student has access to SHS. She then argues that education policy must target the poor and the communities where parents frequently send their children to work instead of school. She also lobbied for increased training for teachers and better learning resources for schools. Ironically, her argument for education reform in Ghana sounds quite similar to much of what President Akufo-Addo has said over the past six months.
GES investigation in Tema
Last week, we heard the Minister of Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, ask the new Ghana Education Service (GES) governing council to get to the bottom of the recent extortion allegations. As a refresher, teachers seeking promotion were being unfairly required to submit processing payments for the applications. The GES has now launched a formal investigation in the Tema Metropolis. While it is too early to judge the investigation, it is encouraging to see that the GES is making an effort to involve those affected by the inappropriate behavior to participate in the investigation.
Argument for more autonomous school heads
In the wake of the substantial extortion case, many people are thinking that the top layers of GES should have more oversight power. Professor Stephen Adei of Ashesi University College is of a different opinion. Adei claims that GES should give “total autonomy” to basic school heads. He sees a disconnect between the amount of resources GES has focused on basic education and the results (he mentions an approximate 66% functional illiteracy rate). In short, Adei thinks the GES is overcomplicating things. He wants a curriculum that does a couple things right, rather than a bunch of things wrong. Adei reckons that if basic heads are held accountable for the performance of their students, they will have a greater incentive to provide a quality education.
Also…
Akufo-Addo: “government’s focus is to work to provide every school and community with an ICT infrastructure to keep them in touch with global trends, and also equip our youth with the skills that will be necessary for Ghana’s economic transformation.”
GES finds that 246 basic schools in the Upper East Region are in dilapidated conditions and 334 are still under trees.
A brief biography of Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, the new Director-General of the GES.
Send Ghana looked into the free school uniforms program, and things don’t look great.
Enoch Cobbinah, Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, was the “Best Performed Chief Director” in 2016.